Place: Reviews & Ratings

A good beer selection in a somewhat bland box-store environment. There is a wide selection, including good regional standouts, like Dominion and Dogfish Head, and the usual suspects from farther away brands (think Stone and Rogue in great profusion). For a newer beer drinker, this would seem like a dream beer stock, but scratch a little deeper and it begins to feel more of the same-old, same-old. Missing are some of the really great West Coast brewers that are easily available in Virginia - no Green Flash? - and they seem to be afraid to tackle some of the more interesting regional beers that are available at more progressive stores in the area (Why so little from North Carolina? How about some of the edgier Pennsylvania offerings like Weyerbacher. No Blue Mountain?). While this is a good beer selection, it is hard to escape the impression that this is an inventory designed for safety. (898 characters)

When I'm out in the area, I make it a point to head to this Total Wine. Just like others in the general NoVa area, the focus is on wine, but the beer aisle(s) are very good. Plenty of sixers oppose gobs of singles, representing a very good portion of states and western Europe. Frankly, the service at this particular location is a tad bit lower than at others, but, if you're really in need, they'll help you out. Also like other locations, you probably won't be finding too many rare/limited beers here, but there's always a lot of tasty offerings. And, as per usual, the prices are more than reasonable. If you're in need of a beer store in the Chantilly vicinity, give this place a shot. (691 characters)

selection is awesome - an absolute crapload of singles that includes pretty much every beer in the store, lots of local and regional stuff as well as a quality selection of national and international micros, surprised to find bombers of the St. George RIS and Williamsburg AleWerks Coffee Stout here, the best TW selection I've found, hundreds if not pushing one-thousand choices

service is typical of the chain - that is to say, nonexistent unless you go looking for it, and even then still questionable as to whether you'll find good advice, obviously a wine-centric store

quality also typical of the chain, the first two bottles selected at random were out of date, that's the price you pay for a selection like this when the rotation can't keep up with supply, the beer section was also quite warm (803 characters)

I've been here twice now. Overall, a very impressive store. Obviously, their main draw is the selection of wine. However, I'd have to say to this is probably tied with the best selection of beer in the Northern VA in area with Westover Market.

They have one aisle with both sides filled with six packs and bombers and singles from Rogue, Stone, Speakeasy, Boulder, Terrapin, Bear Republic, Oskar Blues, and the list goes on and on. This is a great place to make your own six pack also with the wide variety of singles.

Elsewise in the store is a large selection of party supplies, some snacks, and of course wine. Overall, a very impressive store. (649 characters)

Went here on a quest to find Terrapin beers in NOVA. And we succeeded.

This is a gigantic warehouse of wine in a strip mall of sorts in Northern Virginia. This is the first Total Wine & More I had ever been in so I had no idea what to expect. Aisle and aisle of wine. The aisles were super wide so there were freestanding displays with palates of seasonal beer on them. At first I was really annoyed. It seemed that the displays, both the free standing ones and the end caps for all the aisles of wine, were the only places to get beer. I dug in for an inefficient crawl through the store. Then I saw the beer section.

The beer section of the store was on the far wall from the door. It consisted of about 2 half rows (the rows were really long) filled with six packs roughly organized by region / style. The other side of this half row were singles. You could make your own six packs. I did not see the Terrapin beer I wanted in the six pack row but they were available as singles. After I assembled my own six pack of Terrapin beers, I saw an end cap display offering six packs of them. I picked one up and it was a ready made mix pack.

Overall, it was a good experience here. There aer hundreds of beers available in six packs or as singles. The prices are OK, not great, but decent and the staff looked up some stuff that we couldn't find (to tell us that they didn't have it). Super rare stuff, go to another store. But if you want good craft beer or to make a serious sampler for yourself, this is your place. (1,519 characters)

This is my favorite Total Beverage in the area. They are the first in the area to re-categorize the individual bottled beers by genre rather than just a wholly alphabetical order. It's also the first to really put an emphasis on stocking beers. And it's about to improve further since they struck up a relationship with Dogfish Head and will be getting a more complete supply of DFH beers, including the rarer offerings.

Q: They always have some very good beers around, and of course they carry a lot of the cheap stuff as well.

S: Friendly people, although not always actually helpful. You can tell that the store is more wine-focused overall. There's not a single beer-specific employee.

S: The largest by-the-bottle selection of any store in the area. That alone is what makes me come back time and time again. I've created many custom 6-packs here. (858 characters)

Quality: Eye of the beholder, quite frankly. In this store -- the size of an aircraft hangar -- the inventory and sheer size can be overwhelming. I was in there on 26 Oct 2008 and noticed they've done some improvements to their beer section, with lots more shelf talkers. Wine steals the show, however.

Service: For the beer it's more grocery store-like, which is fine by me. If you're buying wine you'll no doubt have assistance.

Selection: Very good. Broad assortment of mostly room temperature ales from all over the world (Europe, Africa, North America, etc.). California Colorado, Oregon, and Pennsylvania dominate. Tons of "by the bottle" variety six-pack opportunities.

This is the best Total I've been to, of their several locations in the area. The entire store is simply bigger than the other locations, but that means the beer (and wine) selection is bigger too. Also, this location's organization and labeling is better. So it's quicker and easier to find the exact beer's your looking for. The staff isn't the best, but they're friendly enough. I've never had any issues with this location. I wish the Total next to my house was organized more like this one. (494 characters)

This is where I buy my beer the most. It's on my way home from work, and has the best selection I can find without traveling out of my way.

I get the feeling that they carry most of what the big distributors bring to the DC area. Although there's nothing really rare, I can go in and be happy with what I find. They have all my old standbys and I've discovered some good new beers (or, new to me, anyway). I've even found some beers that I discovered on tap in my favorite beer bar, Galaxy Hut.

This is primarily a wine store, and while the staff is passingly familiar with most of the bigger craft breweries, they are not supremely knowledgeable and could talk about beer for probably a quarter of the time they could about wine.

Picked up some Victory ( I found out after I got home that the Hopdevil best by date came and went yet it was still on the shelves ), Oskar Blues ( no TenFidy. ), Bells ( The guy at the checkout said the Two Hearted was his favorite beer so I figured he knew something about the selection. I asked if they had TenFidy anywhere that I missed, and got a blank stare. )

I also picked up some Belgians that looked interesting.

I was hoping to find some Terripin, but if they had some, I did not see any.

All and all kills Tennessee for selection, but no where near Ohio, Indiana, etc. and the store sold me old beer ( I am sure I will still enjoy it ) .

I do not think there was a 6 pack discount like I have seen many places either. (789 characters)

The storefront is sort of hidden, as it isn't visible from the main part of the shopping center. The store is almost as big as an Office Depot, with many tall and deep aisles. The wine selection in this store is enourmous, with a half aisle devoted to beer singles, and another aisle devoted to six packs. In the middle of the aisle are some cases. None of it is refrigerated, and I didn't look around the whole store to see if there was anything refrigerated.

The selection is pretty good, or at least as good as anything else I have seen in the area. Everything from locals to Belgian and Germans are available. It seems like if it's available in VA, they have it. Unfortunately, there is lower turnover so you risk picking up a stale or light-struck beer.

The prices seemed reasonable, although all beer seems slightly too expensive these days. I didnt' see anyone roaming the floor offering help. They may have been over in the other areas of the store helping wine shoppers. I would be surprised if there was anyone in the store that knew a modest amount of information about the beer they carry.

Without driving too far this is probably as good of a selection there is in Chantilly, or even western Fairfax. My main gripe with the store is no refrigeration. It's a bright store, but there isn't much there can be done about that as most people don't like to shop in dark/dim light. (1,393 characters)

I went to this place the other last night. I was suprised by the size of the place, then at the size of the beer selection compaired to the size of the store. The store is huge, but they only have a little of a half an alse of singles. and another little over a half alse that had 6-packs. The selections of Belgians was small compaired to the rest of the beer selection. This can be good and bad, becasue most places have the same Belgians and it also means that they have more US brews to try. They have Speakeasy, Brooklyn, Troegs, Dominion, Bells, Victory and other. Worth a stop in the area. I did not have an employee ask if I needed help, better yet I never say an employee out on the floor, and only about 2 or 3 other customers were in the store. (755 characters)

They advertise more than 500 beers on the front on the store I believe. After you walk in you see this is definitely more of a wine store with a pretty good beer section. The have 2 long aisles filled with beer but I dont know if its 500 or not. They have plenty of micros Victory, Treogs, Old Dominion but not a lot of the hard to find stuff or good imports. They have a better selection than most stores in the area but Norms, Whole Foods and Ricks, blows them any with the quality of their selection. You can sometimes get some things here that the smaller stores dont carry just do to space limitations. Staff was never very knowledgeable when I interacted with them. If you are close to it and dont have time to head to any of the other good stores this should work fine for you. (794 characters)

In Northern Va., this establishment has a very good selection. They advertise over 1000 beers. I doubt that, but I still think the selection is pretty decent. They have both a Micro and an International section, with each of the Intl divided up by country. The Micro selection has the top sellers and other harder to find beers. They write up mini reviews of alot of the beers which helps make a selection.

Of course, you can also build your own six pack, which can become somewhat pricey, but it allows a varied selection. I inquired about a couple of non stock items with customer service and they were helpful in looking it up and would order by the case if requested. My girlfriend went there before I did. She knows very little about beer, but with the stores good service, she was able to come home with some excellent selections.

The store is mainly for wine, but if I knew of a better location, close to work, in NOVA, I would try it. Overall, a good place to find some beers not sold in the grocery. (1,015 characters)